VISAKHAPATNAM: The state government is in favour of setting up the headquarters of new railway zone in Visakhapatnam and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has already given an assurance in this regard, HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao has said.
Srinivasa Rao told newsmen here Sunday that though there were requests from various parts of the state, the CM had already assured that the proposed new railway zone would be established with its headquarters in Vizag. However, the Central government is yet to conduct the feasibility study for creating a new railway zone as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
On EAMCET counselling, the minister admitted that the turnout for the certificate verification, as part of EAMCET counselling in Andhra Pradesh, was poor. The minister said that the certificates of 1,128 students were verified on the first day, 1,514 on the second and 1,906 on the third day.
“Less than 5,000 candidates got their certificates verified as against 15,000 rankholders. The government wants to develop a student database by linking each student’s information with the Aadhaar card,” he informed.
Elaborating on the proposed initiatives of the state government for the development of the education system in the state, audio-visual teaching in schools would be revived. Biometric system would be installed for students at government schools, for improving the attendance, on a pilot basis in Guntur or East Godavari districts, he said. The minister also said that the midday meal scheme would be improved and that self help groups and NGOs like Hare Krishna Movement would be roped in for maintaining the quality of food.